


Twenty One

by LtReginaBarclay



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Animal Abuse, Gen, brief mentions of blood and injuries, somewhat liberal interpretation of myth and canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-18 21:44:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5944144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtReginaBarclay/pseuds/LtReginaBarclay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico planned on the usual awkward family holiday in the Underworld. He didn't plan on Blackjack hitching a ride by shadow travel and helping him stop the scheming of a familiar villain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twenty One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [awanderingmuse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/awanderingmuse/gifts).



> A while back (long enough she may have forgotten talking about it) awanderingmuse mentioned that she really wished there were more stories that included a friendship between Blackjack and Nico. Well, her wish was my command, and I started a fic with that friendship in mind. But it languished in my hard drive only half complete for months. A week ago I dusted it off and finished it as a birthday surprise. Happy Birthday E! Hope you enjoy it :)
> 
> Note: There is mistreatment of animals by baddies in this fic. There is some description, and while it's not graphic I don't want anyone hurt or surprised. There are also a couple mentions of minor injuries and blood, human and animal. Despite these warnings it's actually a fairly cute and happy fic I promise!
> 
> Also as this was a gift to my beta, this story lacks the usual polish she brings to my writing!

“It’s just for a night, Percy.”

As usual, Percy was doing his best impression of an octopus to keep Nico from leaving camp. Nico was fairly sure Percy’s powers didn’t include extra arms, but every time he left to visit the Underworld it raised doubts.

“I’ll miss you too,” Nico continued while attempting to untangle his shorter limbs from his boyfriend’s. “But as soon as Persephone has made the trip to the surface for spring, I’ll be back.”

Percy pouted his lips. “Promise?”

“Promise.” Nico repeated.

Percy kissed him on the nose, and released him. “Hurry back.”

Nico smiled, “Do you have any idea how many cereal dishes Demeter demands for the banquets? I’ll be flying back.” He shouldered his backpack, and after one last kiss, headed for the shadows in the forest.

The spring leaving of Persephone was one of the few days that could almost be considered a holiday in Hades’ realm. Demeter ordered enormous dinners, and every chthonic deity of any renown flocked to the black marble palace to say their goodbyes for the season. As a son of Hades, Nico was always expected in attendance, but cocktail hour with Death, Hecate, and the Erinyes was never his idea of fun. And since Hazel was away on a quest, he was on his own to make small talk with the kinds of gods mortals had feared to call by name for centuries.

Nico had reached the forest and was surveying its floor for a nice shadow, when he heard hoof falls behind him. He turned to see Blackjack, Percy’s friend pegasus, walking towards him.

“Did Percy send you to waylay me?” he asked the winged horse, “because if he told you I have donuts, he was lying.”

Blackjack’s ears had perked momentarily at the mention of donuts, but he shook his head and whickered.

“Well,” Nico said, giving the winged horse’s mane a pat, “Look after the idiot for me while I’m gone.”

He stepped back into a poplar tree shadow, and concentrated on the Underworld. The last thing he saw as he melted into the shadows was Blackjack jumping into the shadow after him.

* * *

When Nico emerged from the shadows, he was just outside the Walls of Erebos, though further south of Cerberus and the Main Gate than he usually arrived. He was also joined by Blackjack, who shook out his wings and nudged Nico.

Blackjack had always been odd for a pegasus. He was the only all black pegasus anyone could remember seeing in centuries. He had also never shied away from Nico, which made him unique among animals—and many demigods. Nico had always guessed that being trapped among so many monsters on the _Princess Andromeda_ had made the horse unafraid of Nico’s friendlier Underworld aura, but he was less sure of that now. The tandem shadow travel jump Blackjack had made shouldn’t have been possible. He hadn’t been touching the animal—even indirectly, as he’d made work for the Athena Parthenos statue—when he’d faded into the shadow.

More importantly, Blackjack shouldn’t be in the Underworld with him. None but the gods and their children could pass through the Gates and return to the land of the living.

“Blackjack.” Nico hissed, “What are you doing here? You need to go back to Camp Half-Blood.”

The pegasus stared back, but didn’t move.

“Percy wouldn’t want you down here,” Nico tried again, “It’s not safe for you.”

Blackjack snorted and faded into the long shadow made by the Wall.

So he _could_ shadow travel Nico thought, and made a mental note to ask someone about Underworld pegasi. He sighed in relief and turned towards the gate, but swore and jumped back in surprise when he found himself eye-to-eye with Blackjack.

The pegasus nickered with what Nico assumed was laughter.

“Look,” Nico glared at the horse, “There aren’t any donuts down here, just ghosts and gods and monsters. I appreciate the company, but you need to grab a shadow back to Long Island.”

Blackjack shook his head and whinnied.

Nico rolled his eyes. Of all the powers to suddenly wish for, he was envying his boyfriend’s ability to talk to _horses_. “Ok. Yes or no questions. Stamp once for yes, twice for no.”

Blackjack stamped his front hoof in acknowledgement.

“Can you shadow travel back to the surface?”

Two stamps.

“So your power is restricted to the Underworld…” Nico murmured.

One stamp.

“All right, I’ll take you back. I’ll be tired for the banquet but I can make it back, your powers make you a lighter passenger than most.”

Two stamps.

“You don’t want to go back?” Nico asked.

One stamp.

“ ** _Why?!_** ”

Blackjack looked unimpressed.

“Well I’m afraid this isn’t up for debate.”

Nico lunged for the horse’s neck, but was too slow. Blackjack flew over the wall into Hades Kingdom, and Nico found himself face down on the beach of the River Styx. He stood up and brushed himself off, and then headed for the gates guarded by Cerberus with a scowl. Now he had pegasus retrieval as well as an Underworld party to look forward to.

* * *

Hades’ palace was decorated for the event with extra torches and jewelled flowers. By the sounds coming from inside, the party had already started. Nico snuck into the palace through a side entrance, and sat down heavily on his bed. Most demigods met their godly parent once or twice in their life—the fact that Hades, Lord of the Underworld, seemed to be the only god interested in family dinners and holidays was rather ironic now that Nico was older.

He’d need to put together some kind of search itinerary, but first, he had the banquet to face.

Hades main palace hall was already swarming with Underworld guests milling about with pomegranate wine and small appetizers. After the incident with Persephone, Demeter had insisted on the rules about Underworld food being lifted, and a new industry of cooking had sprung up as Hades was able to entertain select guests from above and below the earth.

Nico saw the Fates spinning furiously in a corner, while Hermes—attending in his official chthonic capacity as psychopomp—was telling jokes to a thoroughly unamused Hecate and Charon. In a bid to avoid Alecto, Nico ducked underneath a waiter, and ran straight into his Step-Grandmother Demeter.

“Nico!” She crowed, spilling some of her drink. “Finally, we thought you’d gotten lost on your way here. Here have a drink!”

The goddess snapped her fingers and one of Hecate’s lampades appeared with a glass for Nico.

He looked inside first and found it filled with kykeon, Demeter’s signature drink of wine, barley, goat’s cheese, and pennyroyal. Nico smiled tightly and pretended to take a sip, his lips firmly closed.

“Thanks, Demeter.”

“You’re welcome. Enjoy yourself! It’s spring!” Demeter sang, taking off into the crowd where her bright green gown stood out among all the black and red.

The spring celebration was always an awkward one in Nico’s godly family. Demeter was always cheerful, ecstatic to have her daughter back for the season. His father however, would sit through the proceedings incredibly gloomy at the approach of months without Persephone. Persephone usually stuck by his side, sharing her wine and trying to keep her mother from irritating him too badly.

Unfortunately, hiding in the shadows didn’t work nearly as well among Underworld gods as it did among the average demigods Nico spent most of his time around. He was cornered by Hypnos at a snack table where Nico had been trying to find something without cereal in it. The sleep god had droned on for nearly an hour while Nico did his best to resist the soporific power of his voice. Nico had stumbled away from the conversation drowsy and disoriented and thought he was dreaming when he heard a familiar Texan voice in the crowd.

“Eurytion?”

The son of Ares turned towards him, wearing his usual cowboy hat and ‘Don’t Mess with Texas’ t- shirt.

“Nico!” He grinned. “How’re ya doin’ ghost boy?”

“Uh, good.” Nico replied dazedly. He tried to shake himself awake, “What are you doing here?”

“Caterin’!” Eurytion answered. “BBQ?” He gestured to an enormous silver platter of ribs, chops, and… cheeseburgers.

Nico grabbed a burger and stuffed half of it in his mouth. It was as good as he remembered from his time spent at the Triple G Ranch, and the taste finished bringing him out of his sleepy haze. Eurytion seemed to be having a conversation about stall mucking with a large burly man Nico vaguely recognized from his time around his father’s palace.

“Course you know Menoites here, right Nico? An old friend of Geryon, but he’s alright” The Texan slapped his friend on the back, and offered Nico another cheeseburger.

“Menoites… of course, my father’s herdsman.” Nico remembered. He was charged with guarding Hades’ cattle.

“That’s the one.” He affirmed, grasping Nico’s hand and shaking it with nearly enough force to dislocate his arm.

“Hey, do you take care of the other Underworld animals too? Like my father’s horses?”

“I do. Those shadow horses are slippery creatures, need more watching than most of the cattle.” Menoites replied.

“Have you ever seen pegasi in the Underworld?” Nico asked.

“I’ve heard tales of one. Supposedly descended from a drop of Medusa’s blood that dripped down here to your father’s kingdom. Never seen her though.” Menoites narrowed his eyes, “Why do you ask?”

“Just learning about the place,” Nico tried for nonchalance. “Do these tales say she had any special powers?”

“Fangs, invisibility, shadow travel… it’s just stories though.”

“Interesting. Well, nice to meet you Menoites. And thanks for the food Eurytion.” Nico said, trying to tie this information together with what he knew of Blackjack.

“Anytime! Drop by the ranch again sometime ya hear?” Eurytion offered.

* * *

Nico excused himself for “sleep” as soon as he could, and then shadow travelled from his room to his father’s stables. There was no sign of Blackjack or any other pegasus—just Hades’ shadow and fire steeds.

He knew Percy could summon Blackjack by calling him, and he hoped he was on friendly enough terms with the pegasus for him to come.

“Blackjack?” Nico called hesitantly. “I found donuts at the party.”

The stable shadow next to him grew and erupted into his boyfriend’s pegasus, who immediately started nosing around Nico’s clothes.

“Here,” Nico said, pulling the donuts out of his pocket, “It looks like Monster Donuts caters Underworld parties.”

The winged horse took them all into his mouth and chewed them happily. The resemblance to Percy was uncanny.

Finding Blackjack had been easier than he’d anticipated, but Nico had a feeling the horse wasn’t finished with the Underworld yet.

“So…” Nico started awkwardly, “Are you going to come with me to the surface now?”

Blackjack stamped twice.

“Of course not.” He muttered. “Look, if you have some kind of sightseeing or quest in mind, it would all be a lot easier if we at least brought Percy in to _translate_ for you.”

But the pegasus seemed to have had enough with the talking. Blackjack grabbed the sleeve of Nico’s hoodie, dragged him into the barn shadow, and melted into darkness with him.

* * *

When Blackjack and Nico popped out of shadow travel, they were in a cactus infested trench. By the screaming and Top Hits of the 80s, Nico assumed they were somewhere in the Fields of Punishment.

“What the HELL Blackj-” Nico shut up quickly at a glare from the flying horse.

Listening more closely, Nico heard something far more sinister: laughter. And the panicked whinnying of horses.

Nico broke a few spines off the top of a cactus, and used it as a boost to see over the edge of the trench. Through the barbed wire and smoke, Nico saw why Blackjack had brought him here. A small herd of black pegasi were surrounded by a group of the Underworld’s worst. The pegasi were tied up and to the ground with barbed wire, one fighting to fly away while being hauled back down to the ground. Tied around each of their necks was a small bag that glowed green. Magic. To keep the pegasi from shadow travelling away, Nico guessed.

Watching from just outside of the pegasi and spirit crowd was a woman who matched the description of an enemy other campers had faced off against previously—the sorceress Medea. They’d sent her back into the Underworld, but by the looks of it she was scheming to break out again. It made sense of course, there were only two days a year the main gates to the Underworld opened and that was for the departure and return of Persephone. The procession was the perfect time to try an escape, particularly if you could capture a group of pegasi.

Nico jumped off the cactus and landed softly next to Blackjack. “Looks like we’ve got a breakout to stop and some pegasi to free.”

* * *

It would have been great to have back up, but with Hazel away Nico and Blackjack were on their own. Bringing a group of campers down to the Underworld would exhaust his shadow travelling powers, and he was fairly sure his father would disapprove of visitors from the Upperworld. And if the Underworld pegasi hid carefully enough to be considered a myth, Nico also wasn’t about to expose them to anyone at the party. Eurytion he could trust, but he doubted he could take the exuberant Texan away from it without anyone noticing.

Nico quickly laid out a plan, and after a few objections by Blackjack were ironed out in their mixture of guesswork and hoof stamps, they each made a quick trip by shadow to gather supplies for their attack. Nico hadn’t been able to get away from the party until well after midnight, and they needed to crush the planned break out before Persephone’s ceremonial procession to the surface began an hour before dawn.

When they had both arrived back in the trench, Nico tightened the belt of his scabbard around his waist, and looked Blackjack in the eye.

“Time to crush the revolt.”

Blackjack picked up his right leg and stuck it out with the hoof bent down. Confused, Nico raised his left hand and watched as the pegasus bumped his hoof against it.

“Was that… a fistbump?” He asked.

Blackjack stamped once, and Nico would have sworn the horse was grinning.

“Percy!” Nico rolled his eyes. “Alright, let’s go free your cousins so we can get back up to the surface and hassle my goof of a boyfriend. In one, two, three.”

Pegasus and demigod, they melted into the shadows again.

* * *

Nico reappeared in the trench closest to where Medea and her cronies had the pegasi tied down, and waited for Blackjack to make his move.

The pegasus whinnied as he swooped down out of the cliff shadow he had reappeared in. He flew straight into the group Medea had assembled, kicking one of her cronies down and another in the head, before taking off in another direction.

“AFTER THAT PEGASUS!” Medea shrieked.

Most of the souls she had roped into her plan took off after Blackjack, leaving just three guards and the witch herself for Nico to take down. He crept out of the trench, staying hidden in the barbed wire and cacti. Two of the guards he took down from behind with single drops of milky white water from the Lethe. Their bodies relaxed, jaws falling open as they looked around the bleak scene of the Fields of Punishment around them without memory of how they had ended up there.

Nico was just a few steps away from reaching the third guard when the rock he had stepped on crumbled underneath his feet. He pitched forward, breaking his fall on a cactus and dropping the open flask. The remaining drops of water from the Lethe spilled, Nico drew his sword as he jumped to his feet. It sliced easily through the rusted sword Medea’s minion was armed with, and Nico brought the blade to their neck on his next swing.

“Drop the hilt, and I will spare your afterlife.” He commanded.

The soul looked terrified between Nico, and Medea, now aware of them and armed with a fistful of green fire. He dropped what was left of the sword and dropped to his knees, narrowly missing the fireball Medea launched at him and Nico. It flashed green against the dark Stygian sword Nico raised to parry it, before being absorbed into the iron.

“You may be a match for demigods above the earth. But this is my Father’s kingdom.” Nico said.

“We shall see.” Medea sneered, drawing a potion from her purse.

Nico shadow hopped a few feet away, and the bottle shattered where he had been standing. Glittering navy liquid splashed out onto a cactus, shriveling it instantly. He ducked beneath a curse she sent towards him, and narrowly dodged another potion aimed at his face. Medea enchanted a cactus to attack him, and Nico spent another five minutes hacking the plant to juice while avoiding more of her tinctures and spells.

_Where had she even got the ingredients for her poppets and potions?_ Nico wondered in irritation as he heard another bottle shatter behind him. Patrols in the Fields of Punishment clearly needed to be stepped up.

Medea’s next weapon was a cloth bag that Nico batted back to her with the side of his blade. It exploded at her feet, engulfing her to the waist in vines with large thorns, and pinning her hands to her sides.

“Don’t even try it.” Nico said, sword point held lightly against her breast bone.

The Princess of Colchis glared, but extinguished the green glow in her fists. “You may have me tied up for now, but my guards will be back. Hopefully with your pegasus in tow.”

“I doubt they’ll catch Blackjack.” Nico said. “He’s escaped far more competent monsters in his time. As for you…”

Nico drew a pair of shackles from his bag, and clapped them around Medea’s wrists. Hacking away the sharp greenery around her legs, he fastened the others around her ankles.

“These are made of Stygian iron,” Nico said conversationally. “So you won’t be finding a way out of them.” He touched the metal, and it gave off an obsidian sheen for a moment as the hinges and openings closed as though they had never been there.

“And I said I would spare you,” Nico said loudly, turning around to address the minion attempting to quietly crawl off into a trench. “But that doesn’t mean you won’t face justice.” He bound the soul with a length of rope, and dumped him next to Medea before doing the same with the other two guards who had been cowering behind cacti during the fight.

With them taken care of, Nico approached the pegasi slowly, talking to them softly. He carefully cut the winged horses free from the scraps of barbed wire and rags they had been tied down with, and cut off the glowing pendants before shattering them with his sword. The pegasi stayed close to one another, licking wounds and comforting the ones still trapped.

Once they had all been freed, the pegasi looked expectantly at Nico.

“If you’re feeling up to it, want to help Blackjack and I get the souls who trapped you?”

* * *

Medea and the three guards who had stayed behind were gagged and had been stashed in the nearest trench, while Nico stood with his sword sheathed waiting for the return of Blackjack. He’d managed to remove most of the spines that had lodged themselves in his clothes and flesh during his fall when he heard the teasing whinny of Blackjack and the gasping of ghostly lungs.

The pegasus flew into view and looped through the air one last time before landing next to Nico. The tired souls stumbled over a minute later, forming a ring with their assorted weapons drawn and pointed at the horse and demigod.

“Where are the pegasi!” Barked one of the souls, a well scarred, boulder shaped man.

“And Medea!” Demanded another, her spear almost poking Nico in the stomach.

“I didn’t exactly approve of her treatment of Blackjack here’s relatives,” Nico said calmly. “Or her plan to break out of the Underworld.”

“And who are you to stop us?” The boulder-like man scoffed. “Some demigod who cheated judgement and came over here thinking he could impress Hades for a chance at Elysium?”

“No.” Nico said. “I’m the Ghost King.”

The shadows around the armed men erupted into Underworld pegasi. Fangs bared and wings stretched out, they stared viciously at the men and women who had captured them.

“These pegasi are very kind despite their appearance,” Nico told them. “But they are rather upset with your treatment of them. I’d drop my weapons if I were you.”

After a tense moment, the woman pulled her spear back from Nico and dropped it to the ground. “Drop them.” She ordered.

A clatter sounded of rusting metal and rotting wood hitting the rocky ground of the Fields of Punishment. Only the boulder-like man holding on to his tree-like club. Nico drew his sword, and with the glint of Stygian Iron, the club was dropped.

“Very sensible.” Nico said. “Now. You’ll all be heading back to your assigned punishments. And you’ll be wearing these.” He snapped his fingers, and cuffs attached to balls and chains flew out of the dirt to tighten around their ankles.

“You will not take part in any attempts to escape the Underworld again. You will not have any further contact with Medea, and you will _never_ lay a hand on a pegasus again. Is that understood?” Nico looked around the circle.

He took the angry mutters as promises.

“Good. Blackjack and I will be back to make sure you are following these stipulations to the letter. Any who defy me will have their punishments re-evaluated by Hades himself.” Nico threatened, every inch the Ghost King. “You will be accompanied back to your section of the Field by these pegasi while I deal with Medea. Don’t even think of trying anything.”

The souls looked nervously back at the pegasi, and picking up their ball and chain, started moving.

“See you just after dawn by the main gate?” Nico asked Blackjack.

The pegasus stamped his hoof in assent, and took to the air to make sure all the prisoners were returned without issue.

* * *

After Nico had seen to the last three guards lying bound in the trench, he took Medea to a more isolated part of the Fields of Punishment. He rechecked the fit of the Stygian chains, and took away the poppet holding up the glamour spell she had cast to make the burlap sack she was wearing appear as silk and gemstones. Back to looking corpse-like, he left her to her punishment with a warning that Hazel would be by to make sure there was no magic happening.

He had just enough time to shadow travel to his room in Hades’ palace, change into clothes that were less torn and stained, and meet the procession gathering outside the palace gates only a little late.

“Your right temple.” Hades murmured to Nico when he caught up to his family.

Nico froze, feeling a drop of blood beading in a scrape he hadn’t noticed. His father reached out to touch the scrape, and Nico felt it heal and disappear. He looked up worriedly at Hades, but the Lord of the Dead gave him a small smile.

“Excellent job last night.” He told his son softly. 

Horns sounded, and the palace gates opened to show Persephone dressed in a spring green peplos with flowers in her hair. Hades’ smile took on an edge of sadness, but he stepped forward to take her hand and walk with his wife to the gates and sunrise.

* * *

An hour of music and petal throwing later, Persephone had returned spring to the world above. Nico shook his father’s hand in goodbye, and promised to visit for dinner soon. Then he shadow travelled to his rendezvous spot to meet Blackjack.

When he stepped out of the shadow in the small cave near the exit to the Underworld, he found not just Blackjack, but all the freed pegasi. They gathered around him, lipping his hair and letting him stroke their necks. He didn’t need Percy’s power of horse speech to understand they were thanking him. He and Blackjack said their goodbyes to the pegasi, and then hopped a shadow back to Camp Half-Blood.

Nico squinted in the early morning sun as they left the shade of the forest, and didn’t even see Percy walking towards him.

“Blackjack!” Percy said loudly in confusion. “What are you doing with Nico?”

“Boy, is that a long story.” Nico said, kissing his boyfriend hello. “Maybe you can tell me how this guy knew a breakout was being staged in the Underworld. Are pegasi psychic? Or only Blackjack and his cousins?”

“What?!” Percy yelped, looking between his pegasus friend and Nico.

“Let’s get some breakfast, and we can tell you all about it.” Nico suggested.

Blackjack stamped his hoof in agreement, and they headed back to camp for food and some explanations.


End file.
